31 Mar 1940
  • British Prime Minister Chamberlain called off the mining of the Norwegian coast in protest of the French resistance to the mining of the Rhine River. ww2dbase [Neville Chamberlain | CPC]
  • German WWI-era battleship Hessen (serving as ice breaker) and armed merchant cruisers Atlantis, Orion, and Widder departed from Kiel, Germany for their various anti-Allied shipping missions. ww2dbase [Orion | CPC]
  • Mussolini informed King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy that Italy would soon enter the European War. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | CPC]
  • Japanese troops completed the evacuation of Wuyuan, Suiyuan Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Wuyuan | CPC]
  • The armed merchant raider Atlantis set sail from Germany. ww2dbase [Atlantis | AC]
United Kingdom
  • The British Ministry of Informations introduced paper rationing to publishing and printing industries. The ration, based on consumption over the year 1938-1939, would continue until 1948. ww2dbase [AC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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